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But Paul Heron, of Lambeth Law Centre, which is bringing next month’s legal challenge, said the policy was wrong in principle. ‘[I represent] a man from Bulgaria who came here two years ago, and even paid his TV licence,’ he told The Sunday Times. ‘He lost his accommodation, was sleeping in a van for two weeks and was due to see a room the next day when he was hauled out by Home Office officials. Because of the detention he lost his warehouse job.’

According to a source with knowledge of Home Office enforcement, many central and eastern European rough sleepers reject the chance to rent property.

The source pointed to one builder earning £1,000 a month chose to sleep rough to avoid paying £500 for accommodation and £200 for travel. From 2012, dozens of homeless people, mainly Romanians and Bulgarians, descended on the capital’s Marble Arch.

Figures show the number of UK-born rough sleepers is at a record high. In England, the total for one autumn night rose by 16 per cent to 4,134 from 2015 to 2016.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘No one should come to the UK with the intention of sleeping rough and we will consider carefully the immigration status of those who are encountered doing so.’